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The cheapest deal currently on the market at £822 a year is around £250 less than the average large supplier’s standard variable tariff of £1,066.

The regulator is demanding suppliers reach out to those who have not switched and offer them a better deal.

Ofgem called on the companies to target loyal customers still on expensive standard variable tariffs, ahead of delivering reforms set out by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Rachel Fletcher of Ofgem said: “We welcome the fact that more consumers are switching to take advantage of the cheaper deals or better service on offer.

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Around 15 per cent of electricity and gas customers switched suppliers in September

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“But suppliers must do more to reach out to people who have not switched and offer them better deals so that competition drives down prices for everyone, including loyal customers. Otherwise public trust will not be restored in the energy market.”

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The regulator is demanding suppliers reach out to customers who have not switched to a better deal

Suppliers must do more to reach out to people who have not switched

Rachel Fletcher of Ofgem

David Brooks, managing director of smaller supplier Good Energy, said: “We’re freezing our gas and electricity price this winter to give our customers peace of mind and no nasty shocks.

“When it’s colder and darker, most will need to turn the lights and heating on for a bit longer each day. Customers won’t thank their supplier for hiking up the price at the time of year when they’ll be using it most.

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The cheapest deal available at £822

“This year we’ve seen some suppliers tempting customers with what appears to be loss-leading deals. But it’s clearly unsustainable.

“Wholesale power prices have spiked and, unless they had the ability to forward buy their power in times when it was cheaper; it is inevitable that those loss-leading suppliers will put their prices up.

“As the old saying goes - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. It’s better to offer customers a fair price and keep it stable.”

Meanwhile, Extra Energy has come bottom of the latest Citizens Advice complaints table for the third consecutive quarter as customers continued to report billing problems.

The firm has ranked lowest in the table, which measures how well energy suppliers are handling customer complaints, since the start of 2016 although it has improved slightly on the last quarter.

Scottish Power and npower continued to improve their performances, with both of their complaints ratios dropping by around a third on the last quarter.

A newcomer in the market, Places for People Energy, replaced SSE at the top of the table with a record score of 19 complaints per 100,000 customers.

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Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “All energy suppliers should be delivering a first rate service as standard and resolving their customers’ problems quickly instead of letting them drag on.

“It’s good to see that some energy firms are starting to get to grips with billing issues that have been causing such a headache for their customers. It’s crucial that all suppliers act fast to clear up these problems sooner rather than later.”

Ed Kamm, the UK managing director of First Utility, a challenger to the Big Six energy giants, said; “The real issue is the enormous number of households being taken for a ride because they are on a standard variable tariff (SVT) and overpaying as a result.

“Recent analysis from Citizens Advice showed that only one in five households on the standard variable tariff are switching and then, only every three years.

“The Government has said it will do something if there is evidence of market failure which there clearly is. We believe it needs to act fast to help all those people paying over the odds before the costly winter months are over.”